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Category Archives: Elon Musk

Elon Musk on track to be worlds first trillionaire but rival Jeff Bezos WAY behind year milestone rea… – The US Sun

Posted: March 18, 2022 at 7:53 pm

ELON Musk is on track to become the world's first trillionaire, according to a new study.

While the 50-year-old's SpaceX founder's personal wealth could reach $1trillion dollars in as little as two years, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is way down on the list, at number seven.

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Musk, the world's richest man, currently has an estimated net worth of $263 billion - with an annual average increase of 129%.

Bezos, once expected to be the world's first trillionaire, is not predicted to become one until he's 65 years old in 2030, according to the study.

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his family, who own the commodity trading business Adani Group, would become a trillionaire a year behind Musk, reaching trillionaire status in 2025 at his current rate of growth.

Founder and chairman of Beijing ByteDance Technology Company Zhang Yiming is in third place on the list, which predicts he will become a trillionaire by age 42 in 2016.

This would make him the youngest billionaire to achieve trillionaire status.

Indian businessman Mukesh Ambani is fourth on the list and expected to reach trillionaire status in 2029, when he will be 64.

Tied in fourth place is Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of Mot Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), who is predicted to reach trillionaire status in 2029.

Currently, there are nine centibillionaires in the world, meaning they have fortunes that exceed $100billion.

The study compared the annual net worth of the world's richest billionaires in order to predict which one will be first to reach a personal valuation of $1trillion dollars.

Of the thirty individuals analyzed, only twenty-one will realistically have a chance of becoming a trillionaire during their lifetime.

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Tweets of the Week: the Mayor, Elon Musk and the Bubble – EURACTIV

Posted: at 7:53 pm

Indeed Chris Bell reckons he has a pretty good grasp of the English language.

Leading Le Chou to snark: Zelenskyy Thought Janez Jana And Charles Michel Were The Same Person: Both Say Theyre EU President. Both Bald, Both Useless

Meanwhile in Strasbourg the Russian flag was removed from the Council of Europe following Russias exit.

Czech designer Vaclav Kudlka aptly changed the logos of well-known companies to express their boycott of Russia

I hereby challenge Vladamir Putin to single combat! Stakes are Ukraine

Right then, this is getting increasingly bizarre: who on earth had billionaires challenging dictators to a fight for other peoples property on their 2022 bingo card?

Tech bro and regular weirdo Elon Musk took to Twitter to challenge Putin to a fight

Some thought his Iron Man delusions are getting out of hand.

Others that reality is broken.

Have you tried turning it off then on again.

But one pointed out that billionaires and heads of state betting on stuff they dont own, is par for the course.

His flex? Exki is actually fine

Getoar Fazliu claimed The Borschette building is not *that* horrible

Irem Ates said Place Lux on Thursdays is overrated and is not that fun!

Jennifer Rankin claimed the grey skies are beautiful, the commune bureaucracy is efficient, Brussels drivers are very considerate and always stop at the pedestrian crossing.

Berlaymonster had the audacity to suggest the vast majority of lobbying efforts are entirely ineffectual.

But Andrew Manasseh took the biscuit stating, for the record, High-level multi-stakeholder events are as sexy as a baggy pair of Y-fronts

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BC looks to Elon Musk to get everyone in the province high-speed internet | News – Daily Hive

Posted: at 7:53 pm

BC is looking to tech billionaire Elon Musk to help it fulfil a promise of high-speed internet everywhere in the province by 2027.

Musks Starlink satellite internet system will form a key part of the governments connectivity plans in rural and remote communities where Telus, Shaw, and other internet providers are unlikely to expand to provide service any time soon, according to provincial officials.

RafaPress/Shutterstock

Those low earth orbit satellites arent new, and Musks company is not the only provider, but Starlink has emerged as a dominant global player with service to a large swath of BC and a plan to cover the entire province by next year.

It is not an understatement to say that someones life can be changed by getting access to the internet. And how can businesses be expected to survive in remote regions if they cant get online? said Citizens Service Minister Lisa Beare in a statement to Daily Hive.

Our approach not only includes connecting communities with traditional fibre and cable but also utilizing new low orbit satellite technology, says Beare. Because we shouldnt be afraid to try new things in order to provide this essential service to people. These options will provide communities with the infrastructure they need to get a high-speed connection that works best for them.

BC has already spent $190 million on expanding internet connectivity in the last five years, and it partnered with the federal government last week to announce $830 million more over a further five years.

With this funding and our innovative approach, we will provide access to every home no matter how remote or isolated, by 2027, said Beare.

Although 94 per cent of households in BC currently have access to high-speed internet, thats misleading because the provinces population is mainly centred in dense cities and towns.

Measured differently, only 40 per cent of BC communities actually have high-speed internet, though thats expected to rise to 60 per cent in the next four years from already-approved projects.

The remaining 40 per cent representing 350 rural communities and 120 First Nations will need to rely on a mixture of satellites and expanded broadband service where possible.

Part of the federal-provincial funding could go to helping subsidize the expansion of traditional broadband telecommunications infrastructure and fibre-optic lines to small and remote communities, which are currently still using slow dial-up internet modems.

But BC government officials acknowledge Musks Starlink will also be a major player in that drive, because its fast download speeds (of up to 200 mbs) more than exceed the federal standards required for funding.

The government is looking at ways to lower the cost of Starlink, or perhaps even subsidize the service because of the relatively high cost of entry, which currently includes $699 for a receiver dish and monthly fees of almost $130.

There are also drawbacks, including the fact StarLinks receiver dish requires a direct line of sight, unobstructed view of the sky and can be hindered by severe weather.

Also, a speed test in late 2021 by American firm Ookla concluded fixed broadband still provided faster speeds in British Columbia than Starlink.

BC opened a request to participate from the industry this week, with a plan to analyze interest from internet companies later this summer and determine which parts of the province will go broadband and which will need to be serviced by satellite.

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Elon Musk and Tesla Have a New Car to Expand Their Domination – TheStreet

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Tesla (TSLA) - Get Tesla Inc Reportseems determined to extend its dominance in the highly lucrative electric vehicle market. Chief Executive Elon Musk's firm wants to push its advantage over its competitors as much as possible.

The timing is good: Legacy automakers like GM (GM) - Get General Motors Company Reportand Ford (F) - Get Ford Motor Company Reportare still making the transition to electrification, and young guns like Lucid (LCID) - Get Lucid Group, Inc. Reportand Rivian (RIVN) - Get Rivian Automotive, Inc. Class A Reportare finding it difficult to manage their increased production rates.

Seeing this this less rosy picture for its rivals, Tesla has decided to respond to the demands of consumers, who are turning a little more toward electric vehicles as gasoline prices have soared.

The Musk team has quietly obtained clearance from the Environmental Protection Agency to produce a variant of the electric SUV Model Y. We don't have many details about this mysterious car, which appeared on the websiteFuelEconomy.gov, from the U.S. Energy Department.

This suggests that the agency has already tested the new car.

This new configuration of the Model Y SUV has a range of 279 miles and an all-wheel-drive powertrain. It's not available on Tesla's Model Y website, so Tesla isn't likely to be marketing it yet.

Tesla currently sells two versions of the Model Y: Long Range (range 330 miles with a starting price at $59,990) and Model Y Performance (range 303 miles with a starting price at $64,990).

This news comes as Tesla prepares to officially open its gigafactory in Austin. This production site will be dedicated to producing the Model Y.

One question now is whether the Model Y SUV with a range of 279 miles will be produced in Austin or in the company's gigafactory in Berlin, which will officially open on March 22.

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This point is important because it could answer the question of which type of batteries will fit this new configuration of the Model Y, which has a dual motor powertrain.

The Model Y SUVs to be produced in Berlin will be equipped with the 4680 cell structural batteries. These batteries will inaugurate a new platform, basically a new technique. The new structural batteries will be built in such a way that Model Y seats will be attached directly to them, saving even more parts, space and money.

Speculation is rife that vehicles produced in Texas will be equipped with the new 4680 battery cells and the structural battery pack. But given the shorter range - 279 miles - the new Model Y version appears unlikely to have them.

The only information the EPA has provided suggests that this Model Y variant isequipped with lithium-iron-phosphate batteries.

The big advantage of LFP batteries is that they are provide lower cost per mile, they last longer and don't contain cobalt or nickel, which makes the car cheaper.

On the other hand, their range is lower and the batteries charge much more slowly in cold weather.

Tesla is already making vehicles with LFP chemistry at its factory in Shanghai. It sells those cars in China, the Asia-Pacific region, and Europe.

The automaker said during its third-quarter earnings last year that these LFP batteries would be used in its standard-range cars, instead of the nickel-cobalt-aluminum-oxide cells that Tesla previously used for Model 3 sedans.

In fact, last September, when Tesla was facing high demand for its entry-level Model 3 sedan, the automaker asked customers in North America whether they would accept a vehicle with LFP cells.

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The forest whisperer Suzanne Simard: Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk should pay up – The New Statesman

Posted: at 7:53 pm

Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk: these incredibly wealthy people are making their money off the backs of people, and resources which they are exploiting from the earth. They need to pony up and pay for this, the world-renowned professor of forest ecology, Suzanne Simard, told me at an outdoor caf in St James Park, London. [They] undermined our government so that they could make cheap s**t. We have to close the circle of responsibility [], we have to hold them to account.

With her wispy silver hair, piercing birdlike eyes and simple black coat, Simard in many ways conforms to the image of an academic being shepherded around the city on a book tour. But as these passionate outbursts suggest, little about Simard is typical.

Simards research has transformed Western understanding of forests, and was the basis for the tree souls in James Camerons blockbuster movie Avatar. Her work helped unearth the secrets of an underground web of fungi (nick-named the wood wide web) that allows trees to communicate and share resources delivering nutrients and carbon not just within species but between them. Large dominant mother trees are also key to these efforts, she has established, helping funnel the networks support to new seedlings.

[See also: Austerity is coming back: Tim Lang fears for food security as war rages]

But while her contributions to science have established that it is collaboration, not competition, that is the governing principle of forest growth, it has been a battle to get there. Even the name mother tree, with its anthropomorphising overtones, has sparked controversy: Everybody was like, dont do it: its going to ruin your career. And really, the knives do come out.

Simard is not someone to be easily cowed, however. And working with people from Canadas indigenous communities helped cement her confidence in her communication style. Their whole world is about the integration of humans and the nonhuman world; you dont separate these things at all. In fact, when we do separate them, thats when we get into so much trouble.

Her bravery perhaps even runs in her DNA. Raised in the Monashee Mountains of rural Canada, Simards gripping memoir Finding The Mother Tree introduces many important figures who populated her youth, from her rodeo-riding brother to her grandfather who rolled logs down rivers at great personal risk. Simard has continued this legacy, helping lead the way for women, first in the logging industry, then science. (Not to mention battling breast cancer, the development of which her research involving toxic herbicides and radioactive isotopes might have contributed).

It is a sweaty, dangerous and highly unique personal story that has captivated creative minds around the world. The author Richard Powers is said to have based his heroine in the award-winning The Overstory on the scientist, while actress Amy Adams is set to star as Simard in an upcoming film adaptation of her memoir.

Yet in light of the evermore dire warnings about the health of the planet, it is not the personal, but the practical and political context of her work that Simard wants to stress. Indeed, she has narrowed her thinking down to a four-point action plan for governments.

[See also: Could Happy the elephant follow an Ecuadorian monkey into legal personhood?]

The number one priority should be stemming the source of climate change by decarbonising the energy sector, she explains. Second would be putting a moratorium on deforestation, especially in old growth forests and rainforests, like those in the Amazon, Pacific Rim and Congo. And third should be creating financial mechanisms to ensure that green reforms support people and nature as part of a well-being economy.

For too long, she insisted, private companies and corporations have shirked their responsibilities. Theyve privatised the wealth and socialised the risk, she explained. Private wealth has long railed against governments because they dont want to be taxed. This has fed a narrative where politicians cant be trusted, tax is seen as a negative thing and governments are consequently stripped of their resources, she argued. Corporations must step up and share their wealth, and start funding these life saving measures over the next five years.

Two much-touted ways of redirecting private finance towards green reform are via carbon-offsetting and carbon taxes. The former involves polluting companies or countries buying carbon credits from schemes or nations that are actively absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere, often via planting or protecting forests. The latter charges emitters for each tonne of greenhouse gas emissions they produce. Simard is sceptical about both.

Regarding offsets, the polluter often still continues to pollute, she said, and theres no guarantee in an age of increasing wildfires, social unrest and poverty, that those forests involved in the schemes are permanent.Similarly with carbon taxes, Simard fears the current carbon price is far too low. It would take thousands of dollars to return this hectare of land back to original forest, she said, looking around at the highly manicured flower beds of St James Royal Park. Youd have to bring in new soil, recreate the landscape, bring in new trees and have people looking after them: its expensive. The price of carbon is at only around $3-$60 a tonne in G20 economies, while analysts estimate it needs to reach at least $100 to meet net zero by 2050.

But if these discrepancies and injustices can be addressed, Simard is hopeful forests and their wider ecosystems can respond. The fungal spores that are essential to regeneration can remain in forests for thousands of years, she said, while her research with the Mother Tree Project is exploring how trees from warmer climes can be successfully migrated north as the world heats up. Adapting forestry so that it protects and nurtures mother trees, rather than continuing with todays clear-cut practices, will be essential to this, she believes.

And that brings us onto her final fourth point for saving the planet: recognising the active role that humans must now play in ecosystem protection. We need to be moving seeds and species, she stressed, because its too late for us to let [nature] do it all by itself. We got to return to our original responsibility of caring for Mother Earth.

Does that mean we are the ultimate mother tree I suggested? Yes.

Finding the Mother Tree: Uncovering the Wisdom and Intelligence of the Forest, by Suzanna Simard. Published in the UK byPenguin.

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Elon Musk’s Tesla is Scottish Government new car of choice – HeraldScotland

Posted: at 7:52 pm

THE Tesla model 3 appears to be Nicola Sturgeon's and her ministers luxury electric car of choice, according to new data published.

Figures, which were published yesterday, revealed that the Scottish Government has a fleet of 28 ministerial vehicles which are used for official business.

These include 10 Tesla model 3s - priced at upwards of 42,500 - registered in either 2021 or 2020 with 11 slightly older Kia Optima PHEV also in the fleet. The remaining seven cars include an electric model of Volvo.

Tesla is owned by the US-based billionaire entrepreneur and founder of aerospace company SpaceX Elon Musk and has been a prominent critic of Russian President Vladmir Putin.

Mr Musk, the world's richest man, on Monday challenged Putin to a fight.He took to Twitter to see whether the Russian leader would test his mettle in person rather than through his country's forces.

"I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat. Stakes are Ukraine," said Mr Musk."Do you accept this fight?" he added in Russian, directly addressing the official English-language Twitter account of the 69-year-old president.

When one of Musk's 77 million followers wrote that the Tesla founder might not have thought his challenge through, Musk said he was "absolutely serious."

"If Putin could so easily humiliate the west, then he would accept the challenge. But he will not," he added.

The South African-born Musk, 50, had already offered his support for Kyiv, tweeting "Hold strong Ukraine" this month while also offering "my sympathies to the great people of Russia, who do not want this" war.

He also responded last month to a Kyiv plea by activating his Starlink internet service in Ukraine and sending equipment to help bring connectivity to areas hit by Russian military attacks.

The Scottish Government published details on its car fleet after a freedom of information request.

It said that all "Government Car Service (GCS) vehicles" are compliant with low emission requirements, as set out in The Low Emission Zones (Scotland) Regulations 2021.

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Elon Musk seeks to end US restrictions on his tweets – The Guardian

Posted: March 8, 2022 at 10:45 pm

Elon Musk has asked a federal judge to terminate his 2018 agreement with the top US securities regulator requiring some of his tweets to be vetted by a lawyer.

Musk also asked the judge to block a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) subpoena requesting records of pre-approval of a Twitter poll he conducted in November on potentially selling some of his stock.

The SECs pursuit of Mr Musk has crossed the line into harassment, which is quintessential bad faith, Musks lawyers wrote on Tuesday to US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan.

Musks lawyers said the 2018 consent decree resolving SEC securities fraud charges should not allow roving and unbounded investigations into the Tesla CEO, while impeding his constitutional right to free speech.

Legal analysts said Musks push to end the consent decree may fail.

The SEC clearly has authority to enforce a consent decree issued by a federal court without having to conduct a new investigation, said Urska Velikonja, a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center.

Apart from concerns that the consent decree is overbroad and difficult to enforce, which seem plausible, Musks other legal arguments are an exercise in legal silliness, she added.

In early November, Musk posted on Twitter that he would offload 10% of his Tesla stake if users approved.

A majority did, and the poll sent Tesla shares into a slump. Musk has since sold $16.4bn of stock.

The tweet renewed questions about whether Musk complied with his SEC agreement to obtain approval from a Tesla lawyer before issuing written communications about information material to his company or its shareholders.

Tesla said on Tuesday that Musks tweet on stock sales is behavior the SEC should encourage: a CEOs transparency with the public and shareholders about a proposed stock sale.

Musk faces a real uphill fight, according to Stephen Crimmins, a partner at Murphy & McGonigle in New York City.

Courts generally give the SEC a lot of leeway to enforce subpoenas, said Crimmins, who is not connected to the Musk case.

Judges generally take the approach that if you agree to a consent decree, youre stuck with it. Saying you dont like the deal is not going to get you out of it.

The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The regulator sued Musk after he tweeted in August 2018 that he had funding secured to potentially take his electric-car company private at $420 a share.

In reality, a buyout was not close.

Tesla and Musk settled by agreeing to each pay $20m in civil fines and let lawyers vet some of Musks communications in advance, including Twitter posts that could affect Teslas stock price. Musk also gave up Teslas chairmanship.

I never lied to shareholders, Musk told Nathan in a separate court filing. I entered into the consent decree for the survival of Tesla, for the sake of its shareholders.

In his filing, Musk said he was forced to sign the decree, citing the SECs unrelenting regulatory pressure and as the SECs action stood to jeopardize the companys financing.

He said Teslas investor relations teams said at that time that several large shareholders could cede their ownership in Tesla substantially affecting Teslas financing if the case was not settled expediently.

The company on Tuesday accused the SEC of exploiting the consent decree to micro-manage Mr Musks Twitter activity and retaliate against him for criticizing the agency.

Musk has also mocked the agency in his tweets since the 2018 probe: SEC, three letter acronym, middle word is Elons.

He also tweeted in 2020 that Tesla would make short pants in radiant red satin with gold trim and send them to the SEC, which he called the shortseller enrichment commission.

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Elon Musk says drill for oil, but he should worry more about nickel prices skyrocketing – Electrek.co

Posted: at 10:45 pm

Elon Musk recently made a call for the world to drill for more oil as prices are surging amid anticipated shortages due to the situation between Russia and Ukraine.

Its surprising coming from someone who is trying to get the world off oil. But on top of it, he and Tesla should worry more about nickel prices, which are skyrocketing right now.

Nickel is a critical resource when it comes to transitioning the world to electric transport and clean energy.

High energy density batteries, which are required for long-range electric vehicles, all use a significant amount of nickel in the cathode of the battery cell.

By volume and cost, it accounts for a significant part of an electric vehicles battery pack, which in turn is the most costly part of an EV.

Of course, nickel is also used for plenty of applications other than batteries for electric vehicles.

Actually, only about 5% of the worlds nickel supply is currently used for batteries going into electric vehicles, but that number is going up fast.

Even with conservative estimates of electric vehicle adoption, it is expected that EV nickel demand would jump from 5% to 59% of the overall nickel supply within this decade.

That means a giant squeeze of nickel supply is going to happen if theres not a major ramp-up of production soon.

In 2020, Tesla CEOElon Musk urged nickel miners to increase productionas he saw the problem coming, but neither he nor most people saw the conflict in Ukraine coming, and its increasing the price of several commodities.

The most obvious one is oil. Russia is a big producer of oil and gas, and several countries and petroleum companies have been implementing and/or discussing embargoes on Russian oil, which has sent the price of the barrel to record highs not seen in 14 years as the supply is expected to be limited.

It pushed Musk to call for the world to drill for more oil and gas last week:

This angered many of his followers, who saw it as an anti-clean energy call despite Musk explaining that his comment comes from a concern that civilization is currently mostly powered by oil and gas.

The counter-argument is that the situation is actually putting a focus on alternatives to oil and gas and could accelerate the shift to clean energy, which is the sole mission of Musks company, Tesla.

And now Musk could shift his concern to another resource that is being affected by Russias invasion of Ukraine, and that is nickel, which he has been concerned about in the past.

Russia is the worlds third-largest producer of nickel, and with fear of its imports being limited in an already difficult nickel market, it sent prices through the roof:

The price per ton of nickel already more than doubled over the last year, prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but it has gone up over 80% in the past month, with a significant jump yesterday.

The massive surge is believed to have been triggered by short-sellers trying to cover their short nickel positions following fear that Russias supply would be cut off from the rest of the world.

Morgan Stanley believes that the new price alone could add an a average of $1,000 to electric cars, like Teslas.

Tesla has taken steps to encourage new production of nickel, like singing an off-take agreement with Talon Metal for an upcoming new nickel mine in the US.

These off-take agreement helps junior mining companies raise money to bring those new mines to production, which is a capital intensive process.

Many more of those deals and new mines are going to need to happen in order to support demand from the electric transition regardless of the situation with Russian nickel.

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Elon Musk and Tesla face trial over CEO’s multibillion-dollar pay package from 2018 – CNBC

Posted: at 10:45 pm

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, stands in the foundry of the Tesla Gigafactory during a press event.

Patrick Pleul | picture alliance | Getty Images

Tesla and Elon Musk are facing a trial over the CEO's 2018 pay package, which was worth around $2.5 billion at the time it was granted.

Shareholder Richard J. Tornetta sued Musk and the Tesla board after the package was cleared. The suit claimed it was excessive and said authorization by the electric car company's board of directors amounted to a breach of its fiduciary duty.

Musk's 2018 CEO performance award consisted of 101.3 million stock options (adjusted for the 5-for-1 stock split in 2020) in 12 milestone-based tranches. The plan said Musk would be paid only if he reached those milestones, which focused on Tesla's market value and operations. Otherwise the CEO would receive nothing.

Tesla shares skyrocketed, and payouts to Musk began in 2020, helping make him the world's richest person.

Tornetta seeks to invalidate the option grant from the 2018 plan, which has netted Musk tens of billions of dollars worth of stock at present value.

The shareholder alleged that Tesla board members had undisclosed conflicts and said Musk crafted his own pay plan with personal assistance of his former divorce attorney Todd Maron, who was also Tesla's general counsel. Tornetta claimed that Tesla's board didn't disclose all the information it should have to shareholders before a proxy vote to approve the pay plan.

Maron left the company in late 2018, and Tesla hasn't had a general counsel since December 2019.

Attorneys for Musk had asked the court for a summary judgement and sought to have the case dismissed. But in a letter dated Feb. 24, court chancellor Kathleen St. J. McCormick wrote, "I am skeptical that this litigation can be resolved based on the undisputed facts. So, I am canceling oral argument on the summary judgment motions." She added, "This case is going to trial."

A trial had been scheduled for April 18, in the Delaware chancery court, according to filings first published by legal transparency database PlainSite. That date could change. PlainSite is owned by Aaron Greenspan, who previously disclosed a Tesla short position.

Tesla didn't respond to a request for comment, and attorneys representing Tornetta declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.

WATCH: Elon Musk says President Biden has 'potentially ignored' Tesla

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Elon Musk Says Tesla Is Addressing One of the Biggest Complaints About the Yoke – MotorBiscuit

Posted: at 10:45 pm

Another day, another Tesla joke about the uber-hated steering wheel yoke. When the newest Tesla Model X electric SUV and Model S sedan came out, fans and critics couldnt stop talking about the yoke. Now that some time has passed and regular people have had a chance to test it out, the complaints have only increased. What is Elon Musk addressing with the newest update?

According to Business Insider, Tesla and Elon Musk have heard the complaints about the yoke. There are many, but Musk says the automaker has addressed one of the biggest complaints. No, it isnt the shape of the yoke. No, it isnt the uncomfortable nature of the yoke. Musk and Tesla have decided to jump on the horn issue.

While there have been plenty of complaints about the yoke, the horn has been one of the biggest annoyances. Instead of having a standard horn on the yoke, it uses a small button to set the horn off. Apparently, the automaker has been working on the horn issue since November. The new Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles should have the horn in the center like a regular steering wheel.

Responding to Ross Gerber on Twitter, Musk said, If you mash right side of yoke with your palm, horn will trigger. He also noted that the company is just waiting on a firmware update.

RELATED: This 2015 Tesla Model S Is Aging Like a Fine Wine With 424,000 Miles

The Model X electric SUV and the Model S sedan received the new rectangular steering yoke as part of a redesign. While some die-hard fans of the brand embraced the exclusivity, the rest of the general public did not. The yoke steering wheel was harder to use and uncomfortable for those with longer commutes.

Instead of using the conventional stalks for windshield wipers, high beams, and turn signals, Tesla made these into buttons. The small buttons are touch-sensitive and conveniently located, albeit unintuitive. When drivers hopped in the newly designed Tesla Model X and Model S, it was clear the yoke would be an issue. Drivers would accidentally turn on the wipers or horn by brushing over the steering wheel while driving.

But one of the biggest issues noted with the horn situation on the yoke is that the horn was hard to find and utilize in emergencies. In complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, drivers called the yoke a safety hazard. The horn placement was not intuitive and left drivers frustrated in stressful situations, unable to honk the horn when needed.

Unable to locate the small button, Tesla drivers had to take eyes off the road to mash the small button.

Some owners told the agency theyd nearly gotten into crashes because they werent able to honk in time to alert other drivers or pedestrians.

In a complaint on the NHTSA website, one driver said, The yoke is DANGEROUS, stupid, offers no benefit. The horn is way off center, meaning its always in a different place, depending on the turn position. This is criminally stupid, and almost caused 3 accidents already for me.

While Mr. Elon Musk says on Twitter that Tesla will fix the issue soon, he offered no timeline or other information about the update. He did not respond to comment requests from Business Insider, either. For now, perhaps drivers should practice honking with the small button on the yoke until the software update is released. Simple solution, really.

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Elon Musk Says Tesla Is Addressing One of the Biggest Complaints About the Yoke - MotorBiscuit

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